Rays of light stretched across the sky enveloping it in a blaze of fire. The wind breathed across the glistening oceans. Taking a deep breath, Yado took all of it in. DONG, DONG, DONG, DONG, DONG, DONG. The morning bells reminded him of what time it was grabbing his blade Dawnchaser, he ran down the steep mountains to the monastery that he and his sister lived in.

Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, he rammed his hands impatiently on the oak door. Moments later, the door opened to a gnarly old man clutching a cane. “Earlier than usual Yado.” Ignoring him, Yado shimmied past and headed for the descending staircase behind.

***

Knocking four times, Yado didn’t wait for an answer before barging in. The room was almost entirely devoid of light, except for one candle almost burnt out. The only furniture in the room was a bed aligned with the wall and a sheathed blade by it. “Come on Rada wake up already, I’ve been up for ages.” No response. Sighing exasperatedly, he walked over to the bed and pulled off the covers revealing a sleeping girl. Almost immediately, Rada pulled it back up without opening her eyes. “Not time yet,” she responded sleepily. Slightly annoyed, Yado unsheathed Dawnchaser and willed it to life. Instantly, it burst into fire and cast the room in a golden light. After a brief moment, Rada kicked off the blankets and grabbed her blade. “Alright, alright, what are we doing.” Smiling triumphantly, Yado replied, “We’ll see.”

Moments later, Yado and Rada stood by a winding river. The water was crystal clear and flowed along peacefully but there were no signs of life. “Why are we at the border of the Ex and Why” questioned, Rada. Ignoring her question, Yado strode on ahead. Without hesitating, he stepped into the river of Duality. “Wait, aren’t you worried about tainting the water?” Rada asked worriedly. Sure enough, murky mists had slowly started clouding over the surface of the water. Instead of gushing peacefully, it starting gushing hungrily as if it wanted to devour Yado. “Come, take my hand,” said Yado as he offered his spare hand to Rada. Quickly, Rada grabbed onto his hand in an attempt to pull Yado back to safety. Instead, Yado pulled Rada into the river with him. Shocked, she tried to wrench free, but his grip was solid. As soon as Rada’s feet made contact with the water, it cleared up. “See, nothing to be afraid of”, reassured Yado. Together, they crossed the river and walked onto the shore. 

Although Rada seemed to be fine after the crossing, Yado clearly seemed affected by the cold of the river. Covering him with a blanket, she tried to light a flame with no avail. “It’s ok Rada, I’ll be fine by morning, let’s keep going” reassured Yado. “What’s your plan anyway?” asked Rada suddenly. “Well, I want to see what it’s like outside of home” responded Yado. Shaking her head, Rada got to her feet and grabbed her blade. “Your journey ends now Yado, I’m either going home with you or without you,” Rada responded angrily. Without waiting for an answer, she stormed back towards the river when all of a sudden loud howls filled the air. A pair of hunting wolves materialized in front of them followed by two men. One was holding onto the leashes, and the other had a crossbow drawn. “Who are you with?!” demanded the skinny one with the wolves.

Yado instantly knew that these men were no good, the one with the crossbow already had an arrow notched like no matter what their answer was, he was going to shoot them anyways. And the skinny one seemed he was going to let the wolves off at any time. “Were with you,” Yado responded cheerfully although his teeth still chattered from the cold. Reaching out a hand, he silently urged Rada to not just kill these men. Killing these men would lead to questions, and Yado didn’t want to answer those questions just yet. “Well, whos orders are you on to be here then?” demanded the skinny one. “Erm, Ojados?” suggested Yado. “False.” the crossbow one responded. He aimed his crossbow at Yado and fired. Expecting that, Yado snatched up Dawnchaser and tried to deflect it but the cold weakened him. As the arrow seemed to fly to his chest, a moon silver blade cut it down.

“Your going to have to try a little harder if you want to kill us” challenged Rada. She stepped in front of Yado and pointed her blade at the two men.

“So your one of those?!” the skinny one asked eyeing the ancient ornate blade. “Even better.” He made a menacing step forward and the wolves went mad-pulling at their leashes and barking. “Rada, no, let’s go.” Yado grabbed Rada’s hand and turned to the direction of the river. Instead of seeing the river, there was a mirage, as if the river had never even existed. Quickly turning back to the two men, Yado saw them approaching menacingly. As the crossbow bearer took another shot, Yado unsheathed Dawnchaser, and a golden light radiated forth blinding all who dared look at the sun. “Don’t let go, Rada”  as Yado turned back to the mirage and jumped through, the sounds of the men groaning and yelling faded into the background.

Instead of landing in the cold waters of the river, Yado felt smooth grass, he felt the mist thinning around him and heard the warm chirps of a robin nearby. The first thing he saw was the sun at its apex, radiating warmth and comfort. It reminded him of the mornings he spent alone in the mountains awaiting the time when the sun would first peek through the clouds. “Rada?” he asked, grabbing for a hand that wasn’t there. Then his vision blurred out, the cold of the river dragged him under.

***

The portal had summoned them to a grassy plain that seemed endless. Rada had tried every technique she could to wake up Yado but his energy was spent. As the day passed, she curled up next to his fiery warmth and tried to think about where they had landed. After trying and failing to fall asleep she noticed the sun dropping. The temperatures quickly plummeted and she was grateful for Yado’s warmth. She snuggled deeper into Yado and watched as the sun shrank farther and farther down the sky leaving behind a trail of gold on the evening sunset. She watched it go as the sky darkened to an indigo silver. Letting out a sigh, she propped Duskbringer next to Dawnchaser and awaited the moon’s arrival.